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Just a Marine

David Borden, a Marine, lost a leg after Iraq bombing and went on to Afghanistan.

Kutztown grad and US Marine David Borden, who lost a leg and nearly lost his life in a bombing in Iraq, only to return to active duty in Afghanistan, will receive the NCAA’s Inspiration Award Friday in Texas. (CONTRIBUTED PHOTO, THE MORNING CALL / August 12, 2011)

His right foot had been blown off. Later, infection would force the amputation of his leg just above the knee.

His right femur was broken. His right forearm was broken, his left shattered. He had a collapsed lung, a ruptured bladder, and doctors also estimated that between 150 and 200 ball bearings had been embedded in his body.

“There wasn’t a piece of his body except for maybe his left leg that wasn’t messed up,” David Borden Sr. said of the Jan. 19, 2008, suicide bomb attack in Ramadi, Iraq, that nearly took the life of his son, Marine Lt. David Borden, Kutztown University Class of 2003.

Yet shortly after coming out of a coma at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, and as he faced countless surgeries and months of rehabilitation, Borden had just two thoughts: to get out of his bed and help motivate others at the facility in their recovery efforts, and to eventually return to active duty.

A lot more at the link.

Captain Borden returned to the Middle East in January of 2011, as a Marine company commander, and he wasn’t just sitting behind a desk; he walked armed patrols outside of the gates as well.

He is being awarded the NCAA Inspiration Award because he played football at Kutztown University, but noted:

I’m not the only injured service member to return to active duty, and I’m not the only injured service member to lose a limb and return to active duty. A lot of people do this and don’t get the publicity I’ve received because of my command billet and this award.

Captain Borden doesn’t think that he is a “hero,” saying:

The word ‘hero’ is for the men and women who give the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

A hero? I will leave that for others to decide. To me, it sounds like he’s just a Marine.
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Cross-Posted on THE FIRST STREET JOURNAL.